15 January 2022
Patience Stitches a Big Tent Together
Can a big tent party like the Democrats get anything done anymore when it must depend on diverting attention away from fundamental issues to retain a majority? That worked before Nixon’s Southern Strategy, which helped to “purify” the ideologies of political parties at the cost of widening division in America. But now, with opinionated communications channels like cable news, social media, and even broadcast media, less ambivalence exists to foster compromise.
President Biden is an old school politician who believes that getting anything “close” done is better than allowing principled stubbornness to paralyze government. In actuality, the professed objections of Senators Sinema and Manchin to filibuster reform are consistent with Biden’s philosophy.
Those like Senator Sanders who call for a “reset” in policy-advocacy should recognize that the change needed is, rather, further resort to “future preference.” It’s the ability to postpone immediate gratification that shepherded enough recalcitrant supporters to pass the mid-20th Century civil rights legislation. With that larger concept of a successful democracy’s operating pace, determined progressives can achieve their goals piecemeal, if they do not lose patience.
